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"The lives of Chinese villagers I know are infinitely better now than they were 30 years ago" he says. "China has become more open partly because of the demands of ordinary people. They want to become part of the world—I would say globalism is the major force for democracy in China. People want refrigerators, stereos, CD players. I feel it's a moral obligation not to say:‘Those people out there should continue to live in a museum while we will have showers that work.’"
他說:“我知道如今的中國農(nóng)村人的生活比30年前的生活水平大有改善。中國越來越開放，部分原因是出于中國普通民眾的要求。他們想成為世界的一部分，我是說全球觀念是中國民主的重要動力。人們需要使用冰箱、音響和激光唱機(jī)。‘遠(yuǎn)在中國的那些人應(yīng)該繼續(xù)過著那種只有在博物館才能見到的落后的生活，而我們卻可以使用淋浴器。’我認(rèn)為不應(yīng)該這么說，不這么說是一種道義上的責(zé)任。
Westernization, I discovered over months of study and travel, is a phenomenon shot through with inconsistencies and populated by very strange bedfellows. Critics of Western culture blast Coke and Hollywood but not organ transplants and computers. Boosters of Western culture can point to increased efforts to preserve and protect the environment. Yet they make no mention of some less salubrious aspects of Western culture, such as cigarettes and automobiles, which, even as they are being eagerly adopted in the developing world, are having disastrous effects. Apparently westernization is not a straight road to hell, or to paradise either.
通過幾個月的研究和旅行，我發(fā)現(xiàn)西方化是一種得到廣泛認(rèn)可但卻自相矛質(zhì)的現(xiàn)象。批評者公開抨擊可樂和好萊塢，但是對器官移植和計算機(jī)卻不加指責(zé)。熱心的擁護(hù)者認(rèn)為應(yīng)該努力增加環(huán)境保護(hù)力度，但對西方文化中如香煙和汽車的不那么健康的一面卻只字不提。盡管這些東西已經(jīng)帶給西方國家以災(zāi)難性的后果，但是發(fā)展中國家卻急切地接納這些文化。顯然，西方化既不是直抵地獄之橋，也不會是直通天堂之路。
But I also discovered that cultures are as resourceful, resilient, and unpredictable as the people who compose them. In Los Angeles, the ostensible fountainhead of world cultural degradation, I saw more diversity than I could ever have supposed—at Hollywood High School the student body represents 32 different languages.
不過我也發(fā)現(xiàn)文化就如同構(gòu)成文化的民族一樣，善于隨機(jī)應(yīng)變，富有彈性而且不可預(yù)測。從表面看來，洛杉磯是世界文化墮落的根源。但我看到的差異要比我想象的多得多：在好萊塢高中里，學(xué)生使用32種完全不冋的語言；
